When actor Bohdan Stupka recently visited The Day, he told a funny story. On the film location in a faraway Russian village, he saw a lush flowerbed next to the only surviving house. He talked to the landlady, who happened to be of Ukrainian stock.
Many experts (philosophers, ethnographers, etc.) often single out the following national trait of ours: no matter in what out of the way places a Ukrainian may end up in, no matter how unpretentious his dwelling may be, he will surely lay out a garden... Word has it that in Soviet times Ukrainian flowers were exported to other so-called fraternal republics, where they enjoyed well-deserved popularity owing to their quality. So it is quite logical to suggest there is no reason why this business should not be revived today.
Frankly speaking, when I saw quite a modest — as little as 900 square meters in area — international specialized exhibition The Industry of Floriculture and Horticulture (pictured) which opened in Kyiv last Thursday, I suddenly realized there is no industry so far in the literal meaning of the word. Actually, President of the League of Ukrainian Florists Iryna Slobodianiuk (a key organizer of this exhibition and of the now traditional spring and summer festival of flowers), does not even try to deny that the flower market is scarce and one-sided. For example, we still do not understand it is time to specialize, as Western countries do. This means to choose one or two species to cultivate — but we must really excel in this. Instead, the majority puts its bets on traditional roses and daisies. There is also a problem with selection. As we know, it takes decades to do this: for example, one universally known selection firm will celebrate its centenary two years from now.
There were good traditions in the Soviet period, there were past masters of Ukrainian flower breeding, but all this has in fact gone, Ms. Slobodianiuk says.
In principle, it is a good idea to import many varieties of flowers from abroad. However, florists recently complained about customs mayhem: flower-laden trucks have to wait to be cleared for days on end: as a result, many plants perish for want of watering and care. Two or three years ago florists were astonished with other innovations in the customs law: for some reason, the duty on seeds was bought up to equal that on wheat, although the latter is imported by the ton, while just a kilo of the former is enough, figuratively speaking, to get all of Ukraine in bloom.
Still, another eight hectares have been added in the past year to the fifty ones used by Ukrainian companies to grow floral crops. Forestalling skeptical comments, experts say this is not so little. What also proves the cost-effectiveness of floriculture is, in Ms. Slobodaniuk’s view, the fact that, despite lukewarm state support, Ukraine already has about ten large flower- growing businesses which can afford to annually add one or one and a half hectares to their cultivated area. Like all serious floral firms, they employ state-of-the-art equipment and technologies and have opportunities to send their agronomists to attend workshops in, say, Holland. “As flowers are in fashion in Europe, tendencies keep changing. To become a thriving industry, Ukrainian floriculture must watch these tendencies and choose the most applicable and sought-after varieties of flowers,” Ms. Slobodaniuk says. Asked about the prospects and necessity of governmental support for this sector, the expert replied in the interrogative, “Do you think we can do all this so quickly?” It will be recalled that Ukrainian florists put forward their proposals about developing this highly profitable (as the experience of Western countries shows) sector as long as two years ago... Yet, the expert believes that, given the current market dearth, foreign interest in Ukraine should only be encouraged.
The firms that grow vegetables in protected and closed ground are now in a far worse condition. Naturally, greenhouses and up-to- date watering systems increase yields. However, in the view of Krymteplytsia product engineer Valentyn Yashchuk, the payoff time for new greenhouses is 25 years under present-day conditions. “In no other civilized country will you see what we have: the payoff period exceeds the service life,” the expert says. In his opinion, there is no market of farming produce in Ukraine: the assessments made by the relevant bodies do not reflect the situation. “Nobody estimates how much produce is being grown, how much is needed, say, for a year, and who will buy it.” Product prices are not being given reasons for or controlled, which puts both the consumer and the producer at disadvantage.
